KIO POLICY ON ACCESS TO THE COUNTRYSIDE

WHO WE ARE
Keep Ireland Open is a voluntary body composed of concerned individuals and a large number of bodies interested in the outdoors and the environment. These bodies include The Irish Ramblers, An Óige, the Scout and Guide Associations, the United Farmers Association, Irish Wildlife Trust, Association of Irish Riding Clubs, Federation of Local History Society and numerous walking groups, among others.
Our role is to lobby Government and other bodies to protect and enhance access to the countryside. We also try to resolve access disputes as they arise, (though with limited numbers of active members we can deal with only some of the simpler cases). Our approach is to resolve these disputes in the early stages and so avoid a hardening of attitudes and entrenched positions. However, we have not the resources to tackle all cases that arise. This should properly be the role of the local authorities or tourism interests.

THE PROBLEM
Until recently there was little or no problem about accessing the countryside, as there was a relaxed attitude to persons crossing land. In the last few years this has changed. In a small but worryingly increasing number of cases persons attempting to cross land are stopped by hostile notices and fencing, the latter particularly evident where commonage is divided (Appendix 1). For visitors in particular, one unfriendly encounter can negate the effect of ‘a hundred thousand welcomes’.
While the problem affects walkers and mountaineers primarily it must affect other persons interested in adventure sports (eg canoeists, climbers) as well as archaeologists, guide book writers and those interested in fishing. Indeed, bodies other than Keep Ireland Open, including some interested in tourism, have expressed their concern. The impact on agri-tourism, which relies heavily on access to the country, and which is intended as a means of diversifying from agriculture, must be particularly serious (Appendix 2).

What is the Outlook if Nothing is Done
If no action is taken soon there will be more frequent difficulties between landowners and persons attempting to cross land, as the popularity of walking is growing constantly. The possibility of continuing to attract foreign walkers (and other leisure users) could be severely stunted. This would be particularly tragic given that Ireland could be a prime choice for British and continental walkers because it offers such attractive landscapes and good walking country (Appendix 2).

What are not Solutions to the Access Problem
The following are sometimes cited as solutions, or at least partial solutions, to the above problems. They are, but only to a very limited degree.

-	The long distance walking routes, though they run through many parts of the country, provide access only incidentally to mountain or other open areas, and indeed are deliberately routed to avoid high ground. Some stretches of even these routes have been blocked off by landowners.
-	The National Parks occupy less than 1% of the total land area of the country; the National Park authorities do not put any great emphasis on access. For example, some areas of the Wicklow Mountains National Park can be reached only with the good will of landowners by crossing private land.
-	The traditional rights of way concept, which depends both on the good will of landowners and local knowledge, is completely inadequate to facilitate visitors who do not know the area intimately. Landowners can block off these rights of way, which might then fail to be reopened even after a tedious and expensive legal process.
-	There is a supplementary measure in REPS which provides for access to the countryside. The take-up has been very low; this is hardly surprising since only one supplementary measure is paid for no matter how many are undertaken and since it has to be implemented in conjunction with a local group. To be effective in facilitating access this scheme will have to be amended.
-	The Occupiers’ Liability Act 1995 (Appendix 3) which was intended to facilitate access by almost eliminating the landowners’ liability towards recreational users, has ironically resulted in one large farm organisation sponsoring hostile notices at the entrances to farmland. Otherwise its success seems to be patchy.

A SUGGESTED SOLUTION

‘Right to Roam’ and Right of Way
In Europe generally there are two approaches to access to the countryside.
In the Scandinavian countries there is the ‘right to roam’ law under which persons have the right to walk anywhere except near houses, through crops etc. The British government is now in the process of implementing a similar concept for England and Wales. It is also proposed in the last Government’s paper on Sport (Appendix 4).
In England and Wales and to some extent in Northern Ireland there are also long-established laws providing for rights of way under which persons have the right to walk on paths which are defined both on the ground and on maps.

A Proposal for Irish Conditions
While we recognise that there could be problems in legislating for ‘right to roam’ in Ireland, it is hard to see what objections landowners could have to walkers crossing open, unfenced upland if they are behaving responsibly. This type of recreation has been traditionally enjoyed by generations of Irish people. It is also in the landowners’ interests if they are to develop agri-tourism. Over most of the country we suggest this approach, with reasonable restrictions agreed with landowners. The local authorities (particularly), tourism interests and local walking clubs should take an active role in settling disputes.
Where there are difficulties we suggest clearly defined rights of way (Appendix 6) through farmland in order to access open ground, amenity areas or archaeological sites, with reasonable compensation for landowners related to the area of land sterilised. An area where rights of way are particularly needed is the Dublin and Wicklow Mountains, where there are large numbers of walkers and where landowners have suffered trespassing and even vandalism.

The Role of the Local Authorities to Date
It has been the sad experience of walkers and the public in general that local authorities have been ineffective in their handling of right of way and access disputes (Appendix 5). In fact in no case that we know of in any part of the country, have the local authorities taken effective action to help the rights of walkers, no matter how just the walkers’ case.
If disputes are to be resolved a much more forceful and objective attitude will be required to take the interests of walkers - and therefore of tourism - into account. As a start Access Officers should be appointed in counties where walking is an important leisure activity.

However, we are delighted to report that Heritage Officers have been appointed by several local authorities with what we understand to be a brief on rights of way and access issues. It remains to be seen how effective they will be with the various issues that continually arise in the countryside.

Listed below is a full list of existing Heritage Officers which we are led to believe will be increased to thirty six.

County Council	Telephone No.	Heritage Officers	Address
Carlow	(0503) 70300	Lorcan Scott	County Buildings, Athy Road, Carlow
Clare	(065) 6821616	Congella Maguire	New Road, Ennis, Co. Clare.
Cork	(021) 4276891 (County Hall)	Sharon Casey	C/o SWRA, Inismore, Ballincollig, Co.Cork
Galway	(091) 509000	Marie Mannion	Forward Planning Section, County Buildings, Prospect Hill, Galway.
Kerry	(066) 7121111	Una Cosgrove	Áras an Chontae, Tralee, Co. Kildare
Leitrim	(078) 20005	Bernie Guest	Governor House, Carrick - on - Shannon, Co. Leitrim.
Limerick	(061) 318477	Tom O'Neill	79/84 O'Connell Street, Limerick.
Laois/Offaly	(0506) 46800	Amanda Pedlow	C/o Offaly County Council, Courthouse, Tullamore, Co. Offaly.
Roscommon	(0903) 37100	Nollaig McKeown	Courthouse, Roscommon.
Sligo	(071) 56666	Siobhan Ryan	County Development Centre, Cleveragh, Co. Sligo
Tipperary (NR)	(067) 31771	Siobhan Geraghty	Courthouse, Nenagh, Co. Tipperary.
Tipperary (SR)	(052) 25399	Brendan Mc Sharry	County Hall, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.
Longford/Westmeath	(044) 40861	Gerry Clabby	C/o Westmeath Co Co, County Buildings, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath.
Wocklow	(0404) 20100	Deirdre Burns	County Offices, Wicklow.
City Council	Telephone No.	Heritage Officers	Address
Dublin	(01) 6722222	Donncha O Dulaing	Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
Galway	(091) 536400	Jim Higgins	Town Hall, College Road, Galway.

Appendices

Appendix 1:	Fencing
Appendix 2:	Walking as a holiday attraction
Appendix 3:	The workings of The Occupiers' Liability Act 1995
Appendix 4:	The current status of 'Right to Roam' proposals in Ireland
Appendix 5:	'Action' by the local authorities in the recent past: A few case studies
Appendix 6:	Rights of way

If you would like to inform us of any problems in your area please email us at info@keepirelandopen.org

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